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Walking Issues

Hi Everyone, I have been a member here for a while, but have never posted. However, the posts have greatly helped in raising my Cav, Max. Max is 10 months now, and doing great. However, we are having trouble walking. We have always had a pulling issue - if Max sees/smells/hears something he's interested in, he pulls. We are still working on this. But recently, a new issue has arose. Now, he doesn't want to go for walks at all!!! When I take him out in the morning, to do his business & take a walk, he does his business, and then pulls toward the door to go back inside. I try to get him excited about walking, but I have to practically drag him in order to get him to walk with me. I don't know what's going on. Nothing traumatic has happened on walks to make him not want to walk. Does anyone have any advice to get my Max excited to go on walks?

Hi and welcome to the forum. It looks like your question has been missed by people, hopefully someone will read it now and have some suggestions for you. I had a similar problem lately with my 5 year old cavalier, where we would go for a walk and he would stop in his tracks and not want to go any further. In his case I think it was pain related as he has SM. I took him to my vet for a check up and x-rays to see if there was anything else going on - which there wasn't.For now, it seems to have resolved itself. So, I'm afraid I don't have much advice for you, but one thing you could try is to bribe him with treats, and if that doesn't help, maybe get your vet to have a look at him.

I have had a really hard time training Fletcher not to pull on a leash too. I have a EZ walk harness it helps so but not totally, he is VERY attracted to kids playing in the neighborhood and pulls towards them NO MATTER WHAT. However, Fletcher is always really for a walk.... I agree with Shirley try bribing him with treats or check with the vet to be sure there isn't a reason.

Melissa
"If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life."
-Roger Caras

A front clip harness like the Easy Walk or Sense-ible or Sense-ation Harness can make a huge difference but won't train a dog to walk on a loose lead; a dog ends p having no choice because they find it very hard to pull effectively against a harness fastened at the chest.

Dogs have a natural instinct to pull. Learning to walk on a loose lead (so they don't pull but not requiring them to 'heel' which is a far fussier way to require a dog to walk -- and less satisfying/very boring for a dog) is not generally a natural behaviour but a taught behaviour. The easiest way for a dog to learn and for the owner to learn how to correctly teach this (it is VERY easy to give mixed or the wrong message!) is in a good rewards-based obedience class. At your puppy's age, this would be a good thing to prioritise as after about 12 months this gets more difficult to train as bad habits are formed. A class is 100% better than teaching alone because your dog learns to pay attention and follow your queues even with distractions and noise -- others in the class -- a far more realistic situation that a home-training environment. People always wonder why their dog that did everything perfectly at home pays little attention at the park -- this is why! .

I'd look for an APDT or CCPDT class in your area -- these associations' websites give local trainers.

Another great resource is www.dogstardaily.com for all training questions and be sure to download the free After You Get Your Puppy book in the free downloads section .